Kobol's Destiny
by LeafsFan2003
Summary: With many friends scattered, what does the destiny of humanity entail? Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first BSG fic so be nice. Also, if you're trying to avoid spoilers, don't continue since I've incorporated most of the elements from the as yet unaired (in the US anyway) second part to "Kobol's Last Gleaming". Hopefully this'll be the first part in my alternate second season storyline. And, as always, I don't own BSG. NBC does (odd, considering it was once owned by ABC)

Battlestar Galactica

'Kobol's Destiny'

Prologue

Through the vast void of interstellar space, the small craft traveled. No record existed as to its origin or of how long it had spent traveling through space. Those answers were locked away within its internal computers awaiting the day they could be accessed again.

And so it traveled, slowly and silently towards a star not unlike the one of its origin.

Four light-years away on a world orbiting that star, a battle was taking place. It wasn't a battle for land or resources, but of survival.

She could feel the footsteps of the approaching Cylon warriors. She was running as fast as she could, but the Cylons being machines meant they never tired, as she was quickly doing. Yet she ran with all her heart in the direction of the ruins. She was one of only 47,000 humans left alive in the Universe.

Less than one light-year distant, another battle of survival was taking place. Commander William Adama, the last battlestar commander left in the Universe, was slowly dying. Lodged in him were two bullets, put there by one of his top Raptor pilots, now revealed to be a Cylon agent.

_Baltar's detector didn't work, _he thought as he blacked out from the shock of the wound.

Eighteen light-years away yet another battle was taking place. Not one of survival, but one of revenge.

Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace had had enough of the blonde lying before her. She'd snuck up on her just as she'd retrieved the Arrow of Apollo. The blonde had essentially sold out humanity for machines. She was quite surprised, then, when she learned that the blonde was herself a machine. And now she lay there, the Arrow impaled through her chest. Already the object was merging with the Cylon's circuitry. Circuitry which allowed it to communicate with its many clones.

Close by, Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon watched in shock as someone he thought dead killed on of his many tormenters. For nearly two months they had pursued him, watching him, all the while using him as an experiment. The results of that experiment sat next to him. The Cylon he'd thought to be Lieutenant (JG) Sharon "Boomer" Valerii had admitted to being pregnant, something that was even more shocking. But it really didn't matter at the moment. Now they had a way off the planet. Or so they thought.

At that moment, though separated by 18 light years, the Cylon known to Dr. Gaius Baltar as Number Six suddenly seized before him. He could tell from her look that something was dreadfully wrong, but was still bemused by what he saw for she had been tormenting him for two months, appearing at random and even physically hurting him. To see her in pain now was quite amusing.

"Gaius, it has begun," she whispered and passed out.

"Dr. Baltar!" a surprised Cally screamed from the entrance to the ruins.

Baltar looked around him. The building had truly become ruins once more, where they had been like new mere moments before. He looked down only to see that Six was still lying there, motionless.

"Who's that?" Cally asked, gasping for breath as she came up.

"A Cylon," he managed to whisper. She could truly see her. It really hadn't been a chip in his brain.

"We've got to hide," Cally said, quickly forgetting the prone Cylon. "There's two toasters after me."

"No, something's about to happen," he startled her by saying. "She showed me."

"What…?" Cally managed before the ruins were bathed in light.

Outside the two Cylon Centurions paused, their intricate programming trying to make sense of what they suddenly saw. What their scanners showed as debris was suddenly filled with immense power.

Inside, Cally watched, stunned, while Baltar looked on in surprise. Six had been right this time. What he had seen mere moments before was actually coming to pass. Humanity was about to learn its destiny.

The light revealed itself to be emanating from a stone that had moved close to Six's hand. Slowly the stone moved a little more, revealing more light. Suddenly the stone shot out and behind the two stunned humans. The light continued to glow, but it was apparent that something within was causing it.

Slowly, a pedestal emerged from the opening. On top of it sat a rather small globe.

"Kobol," Baltar whispered.

"No, I think that's Earth," Cally whispered back.

The globe was intricately detailed. They could see the outlines of continents, ranging from a massive one to a small island continent. Baltar could even spy a continent on the bottom of the planet, something he'd never before seen on a habitable planet.

The globe began to rotate, as did the light emanating from the pedestal. It was slow at first, but quickly picked up speed. The two humans could do nothing but watch, afraid of what might happen next.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot up from the globe and into the sky. Traveling faster than light had any business traveling, it quickly moved through Kobol's star system and out into deep space. There, it kept going, traversing the four light years between Kobol and the small craft in a matter of minutes.

Once it reached the craft, it wrapped itself around it, giving immense power to its small sublight engines. In what one would call a wink, the craft vanished, passing beyond the realm of normal space into what scientists termed "hyperspace". A journey that would have lasted another two hundred years was finished in a matter of minutes.

On Kobol, the craft suddenly reappeared before Cally and Baltar. They watched with a combination of shock and awe as the craft came to life.

What they saw was puzzling. Neither of them had ever seen anything so small before. Baltar himself had read about craft as small as what he saw, but they had all been probes sent out in the distant past to map the Colonies' home system. How such a craft had come to Kobol was beyond him.

And yet, it was quickly coming to life. Small servo motors whirred and began removing what appeared to be protective shielding around the craft. Cally's eyes went wide. She'd never seen anything that could change so smoothly. It was almost fluid. Folding up like a fan, the craft's main shielding disappeared from view, revealing its interior. Even that puzzled Cally as all it appeared to be was a computer's keyboard, oddly arranged in the Colonial Standard format. Another device did appear to be a gun, but she couldn't be sure of that.

A screen came on and Cally watched as the computer apparently booted up.

_How can a computer be so small?_ she thought to herself.

The boot up sequence had all been in Colonial Standard Caprican, but Cally had ignored that, not being the computer genius, but rather the socket wrench type of girl. What she saw now, though, shocked her and Baltar both. The gun device was moving. It panned around, once pointing itself at Baltar's chest, prompting the scientist to think it was going to kill him, but it had quickly moved away. It settled on pointing toward a wall some five hundred feet distant.

It glowed and a beam of light shot out, but never quite made it to the wall. Instead it expanded and radiated upwards. What the two humans saw next almost made them jump back in horror.

It was a man.

Chapter 1

Battlestar Galactica: Two-light years from Kobol

Colonel Saul Tigh couldn't believe it. His commander and best friend lay before him, medics trying desperately to stabilize him so that he could be moved to sick bay. Nearby, Colonial Marines were still trying to subdue his attacker, Sharon Valerii.

It had been a shock when the pilot had walked into the CIC, fresh from destroying the Cylon Basestar that had been orbiting Kobol, and suddenly pulling a gun on Adama. Tigh had tried to stop her, but wasn't in time as the gun fired twice.

"Dad, don't die. Please don't die," he could hear Adama's son, Lee "Apollo" Adama, whisper. Never in his entire life had he heard the younger Adama refer to his father as anything other than 'Commander' or 'Sir'.

"Lee, maybe we should led the medics do their job," he said, grasping Lee's shoulder and trying to tug him away.

"No, I have to be with him. I'm all he has left," Lee protested.

"We still have a ground crew to worry about on Kobol, not to mention the threat of a Cylon counterattack. I'm going to need you, Lee. You're the CAG."

Lee stared at Tigh for a moment, slowly remembering where he was. Slowly, he let go of his father's hand. He continued to stare at Tigh as he stood up.

"So what happened before…"

"Doesn't matter now, Captain," Tigh told him.

Cylon-Occupied Caprica

Kara stared at the dead blonde, trying to figure out how the Cylons had created her. A movement out of the corner of her eye broke her train of thought.

"Who's there?" she asked, grabbing for the gun that wasn't at her side.

"Starbuck, it's just me, Helo," Helo told her as he emerged from the shadows.

"That's impossible. Sharon told me she left you behind. You should be dead."

"But Sharon's right…here," he began, suddenly realizing what everything meant.

"What?" Kara began as the Caprica version of Boomer emerged from the shadows.

"What the frack! Sharon, how did you get here?"

"It's a long story, Kara," Helo told her. "Or rather, a short one. She's a Cylon."

"What? No fracking way."

"It's true. And, uh, Kara, she's pregnant."

Kara just stared at Helo as she began to laugh at the thought.

Kobol

The man took a breath. Cally and Baltar stood stock still, not sure what was going to happen next.

The man opened his eyes and looked around. When he saw the two humans, his expression became one of total confusion.

"What the hell?" he asked in perfect Caprican. "Don't tell me it didn't work."

"What didn't work?" Cally asked.

"You mean this isn't Earth?"

Baltar jumped back in surprise.

"It's real," he whispered.

"What do you mean 'It's real'? Haven't you people ever heard of Earth before?"

"Only in myth," Cally told him.

"Ok, timeout here. Would someone tell me what's going on here?" the man demanded.

"Certainly," Baltar said. "This is the planet Kobol, birthplace of humanity and you, apparently, are from that planet's thirteenth colony, Earth."

"What?" the man asked incredulously and began to laugh. "Surely you're joking."

"No, of course not," Baltar told him.

"This is ridiculous," the man said and turned to his computer. He punched a few buttons on the keyboard.

"Just as I thought. Not enough time has passed. It's only been a hundred years and the journey was supposed to take over three hundred. It's obvious we didn't break out of Earth orbit."

"'We'?" Cally asked.

"Yes, me and the others. We were fleeing Earth to colonize another planet," he told her.

"Fleeing?" Baltar asked. "From what?"

"It's a long story," the man told him, turning back to his computer.

He began punching buttons. Cally watched, curious. Baltar only looked at the fallen figure of Number Six which still lay where the globe and pedestal had emerged.

_So you were real all along, _he thought. _You were here yet only I could see you. Clever. At least now I don't have to worry about you anymore._

"Damn!" the man suddenly yelled, breaking Baltar out of his reverie.

"Sorry," he apologized to Cally.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"The hard drives have been corrupted," he told her, "which is impossible considering all the shielding we put in place. But why wasn't my hard drive corrupted?"

"Hard drive?" Cally asked. "What's a 'hard drive'?"

"A storage device," he told her, somewhat agitated. "How can you not know what a hard drive is? How else do you store your data?"

"Um, we use memory tapes," Baltar told him, coming to Cally's defense. "They're the most practical thing we have."

The man burst out laughing.

"Memory tapes?" he asked, still laughing, "The twenty-second century and you've been reduced to using memory tapes?"

"I don't understand what you're getting at," Baltar told him, trying to remain calm.

"You're serious," the man said and stopped laughing. "Who are you people anyway?"

"We're from the Twelve Colonies of Man," Baltar told him. "Surely you've heard of us."

"No, we left Earth long before anyone else even got to Mars."

"You don't understand. The Twelve Colonies were colonized over two thousand years ago."

And the man turned white with horror.

Colonial One

Laura Roslin stared out the window at the ships that carried the remnants of humanity. Theoretically she was still their President, but technically, as far as she could tell, she wasn't. Commander Adama had ordered her arrest after she'd ordered Lt. Thrace to jump to Caprica, but Captain Adama had convinced Colonel Tigh to allow her to remain on her ship, especially after the joyous return of Lt. Valerii from Kobol. She was, however, forbidden to make radio contact with any other ship in the fleet. She was cut off.

Her assistant, Billy Keikeya walked in. He looked terrified. Despite being cut off from the fleet, he still found out things for her. Whatever it was that he'd found out now, he was as white as a sheet.

"Madame President, there's a rumor floating around that Commander Adama's been shot," he came out and told her.

"What?" she asked, not wanting to believe it.

"There're saying it was Valerii. She just walked up and shot him," he told her.

"But why?"

"They're saying she's a Cylon."

Roslin slowly rose from her chair. She didn't want to believe what she was hearing. She suddenly fell back in dizziness. The Kamala extract was choosing a good time to hit her with its side effects.

She didn't see Billy before her now. Instead she saw…Kobol?

No, it was Earth. It was blue with the brown of continents. Clouds swirled around the globe, bringing rain to the areas they touched. But something was wrong. She saw what appeared to be weapons platforms. It wasn't unusual as any sensible civilization would have a means to protect itself from an outside threat, but these platforms were pointing directly at the planets surface.

And alien invasion? No, aliens would use ships instead of putting weapons into orbit to bombard a planet. These were there by the choice of the people on the planet.

One of the platforms came to life and launched its deadly cargo towards the planet. It was obvious now. The civilization on this planet was fractured and one side was striking at the other.

Still other platforms came to life and launched their missiles towards the planet below. Small pricks of light began to appear where missiles had already struck. Thankfully, to Roslin's fevered mind, they weren't the mushroom clouds of a nuclear attack. It didn't mean the attack wasn't deadly, though. The Colonies new of biological warfare, unfortunately, as such weapons had been used in the distant past when the Colonies fought each other.

A movement on the planet caught Roslin's eye. Someone on the surface was launching a counterattack, or so it seemed.

No, it was a craft. Slowly it rose, passing beyond the planet's atmosphere and into orbit. While it passed beyond the planet's limb, Roslin watched at the weapons platforms continued to divulge their missiles, some attempting to go after the orbiting craft.

After what seemed an eternity, the craft came around the other side of the planet. When it seemed to be pointing at her, it fired its main engine and broke free from the planet's orbit. Several missiles tried to bring it down, but failed and the craft quickly moved away from the planet before shutting its engine down.

"Madame President!" Billy shouted, bringing her out of her trance.

"I had a vision," she told him. "A planet, an escaping craft."

"I've got to get the doctor," he said, trying to leave.

"No, bring Elosha. She'll know what it means."

"Ok," Billy relented and went to find the Priestess.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, having just seen "Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2" I can say that most of what I have written is now truly AU. Only about half of what I thought would happen actually happened. But, it seems to have all been compressed so maybe my version of events is better.

No interrogation of the evil Sharon, yet. So stay tuned.

And, as always, I don't own anything associated with BSG. Well, except the Earthman. Other than that, it all belongs to NBC/Universal.

Chapter 2

Major Cottle, the Galactica's sole physician looked at Lee and Colonel Tigh with a combination of sympathy and irritation.

"There's two bullets as we suspected and both are lodged near his heart. He should be dead, but he was lucky. If one of them had gone even an inch to the left and a little further in, it would've hit his spine."

"So when do you plan to operate, doctor?" Tigh asked.

"Soon, hopefully. I'm rather short on supplies, Colonel. I barely have what we need to treat our other injuries. We were about to be decommissioned and…"

"I'm aware of that, doctor," Tigh said, cutting him off, "but we need him to survive. He's the only commander of a battlestar we have left in the Universe."

Cottle sighed, knowing he was about to be ordered to operate on Adama.

"It's not going to be easy, Colonel. I need a guarantee that we're not going to be engaging in battle anytime soon. And I'd recommend we not make any FTL jumps for the next couple of hours."

"You can't be serious, Major," Tigh said, using Cottle's rank for the first time. "There're Cylons out there wanting to kill us, not to mention we have men stranded on Kobol that need rescuing."

"I'm aware of that, Colonel, but we can't just stop what we're doing so you can execute a jump. We have to keep operating or else he'll die."

Tigh sighed and looked at Lee, who only nodded.

"Alright," he relented. "We'll execute a jump to Kobol and then we'll hide in the system. As to not engaging in a battle, I can't make any guarantees. The Cylons don't exactly care about whether or not a major operation is being performed."

"Fair enough. And Colonel, we'll do the best we can."

"I'm sure you will, doctor," Tigh said and left.

In the corridor, Lee walked silently alongside Tigh, both on their way back to the CIC.

"He'll be alright, Lee," Tigh said, breaking the silence. "Doctor Cottle's seen worse since we fled the Colonies."

"I'm sure he has," Lee told him, speaking for the first time since the shooting. "I just don't know what I'd do without him."

"Now don't say that, Lee. He'll be alright. Just trust me. Besides, I need you with a clear head right now. We've still got men down on Kobol who need rescuing."

"Understood," Lee said as they reached the CIC.

The CIC was still a buzz of activity, though someone had managed to find the time to clean up the mess where Adama had been shot. Despite the effort, both Tigh and Lee could see a faint stain where the man had fallen. Both did their best to ignore it.

"Lt. Gaeta," Tigh said, getting the Lieutenant's attention. "I need you to plot a jump to Kobol. We're going in to get our men."

"Aye, Sir," Gaeta responded and went to the plotting computers.

"Captain Adama, I need you to get a patrol ready. As soon as we jump in, I want you to launch in case any Raiders are left in the area. Once we determine the area's clear, we'll launch a Raptor to find any survivors."

"Aye, Sir. And, Colonel, what about Kara?"

"We'll worry about her once we sort this mess out here. As far as I'm concerned, she's finally crossed the line. If she's still alive, then she'd better have a damn good reason for going against orders."

"I understand," Lee said and left.

"Gods help us all," Tigh whispered to himself.

Caprica

Kara, Helo, and the wounded Sharon made their way through the streets of Delphi. Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, Kara had decided that they'd have to take Sharon with them, lest she fall into the hands of the Cylons.

_What the frack am I thinking, _she thought, _she's a fracking Cylon to._

Helo held her close. He'd said he'd shot her, which made sense to Kara, but after he'd learned she was pregnant he'd done what few men would do and started taking care of her.

"We need to slow down," Helo said. "Sharon can't keep up like this."

"What d'you mean she can't keep up? She's a machine, Helo."

"She's wounded, Kara," Helo insisted.

"Look, I only agreed to bring her along because she's pregnant, which is still beyond me considering she's a fracking machine."

"I'm more than a machine," Sharon spoke for the first time. "I have both machine and organic parts. I'm more cyborg than machine."

"Cy what?"

"Cybernetic organism," Helo told her, remembering and old lesson on the evils of artificial intelligence and dependence on machines.

"Still a Cylon," Kara frowned. "C'mon, let's keep moving. If we can reach the spaceport maybe we can find a way off this fracked up planet."

Helo sighed as Kara moved forward. A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye made him stop again.

"Kara!" Helo exclaimed in a whisper.

Kara's head snapped around and saw them, about a dozen Cylon Centurions marching towards them. What she saw next infuriated her.

"No fracking way. Another one?"

"There're multiple copies, Kara. Just as there are of me. She's model number six. She's the stronger one."

"Great. Just what we need."

"Look, Kara, this is getting old. They've been after me like this since the attack."

"They're after me, that's why," Sharon spoke up. "I'm nothing but an experiment."

"We can talk about that later. Right now I'm getting us out of here," Kara said and disappeared into a nearby building.

"I guess we should follow," Helo told Sharon and went in as well.

Cylon Model Number Six was getting agitated. She'd experienced multiple re-awakenings in the past several hours and was still trying to process all the thoughts of her previous incarnations. Most of the energies from the Arrow of Apollo still coursed through her systems, since she'd only become activated after the other Sixes all went down. Now she led a phalanx of Centurions to look for the rebellious model number twelve.

_So weak,_ she thought. _God was so shortsighted to experiment on the humans this way._

A few of her other incarnations had been present at the camps set up to conduct the same experiments. They formed the Cylon basis for the emotions of love as well as the more powerful emotion: revenge. It was an emotion Six fully understood now. She wanted revenge against the blonde human. And the human known as Gaius Baltar.

She saw one of them duck into the building up ahead. It was the male human, the one who had impregnated the model number twelve assigned to this planet. A wry grin spread across her face. She would be able to complete both her tasks now.

She motioned for the Centurions to go into strike mode. Those in the front converted their right hands into weapons and moved ahead of her. The others fanned out. One advantage the newer models of Centurion had over the original model was that they learned and these Centurions had learned a lot from the human with number twelve over the past two months.

_He will not get off of this planet,_ she thought to herself. _And neither will the blonde._

"Leave her to me," she told the Centurions.

"By your command," they responded in their monotonous voices.

A gunshot sounded and the Centurion nearest the building erupted into a shower of sparks as the bullet struck its head. Six swore to herself and motioned for the remaining Centurions to take whatever cover they could find.

_This isn't going to be easy, _she thought.

Kobol

The three humans walked through the woods towards the lake where Cally had last seen Chief Tyrol and the rest of the team originally sent to investigate the planet. They were moving slowly only because Doctor Baltar and the man were carrying his space craft. He'd insisted on bringing it with him and Baltar had relented. Cally carried the globe they'd discovered on the pedestal. The man had said it looked like Earth, only a little different and suggested bringing it along in case it should reveal anymore secrets.

"This all looks so much like Earth," the man said. "Makes you wonder if what you said is true."

"Why else wouldn't it be true?" Baltar asked, agitated that this "Earthman" was still not believing the truth about humanity.

"Once I get my computers fully operational I'll show you why it's not true," the man told him.

"Not bloody likely that you have computers in there," Baltar said, indicating the ship they carried.

"If I didn't, then I wouldn't be here," he told him.

"Could we discuss this later," Cally said, glaring at the both of them. "We have to find the Chief and the others."

"Agreed," the man said. "Dr. Baltar?"

"Oh, I guess," Baltar responded.

They continued to walk, Cally leading the way. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

"Oh Gods, Cylons!" she shrieked.

Baltar dropped the ship and ran to hide. The man just stood there looking all confused and agitated at the same time. The two Centurions spotted the man and ran towards his location. The man stared them down and then made his move.

"Great, I just hope Shelly packed all the weapons," he said and began punching keys on his computer.

"What, you mean you've got weapons in there?" Baltar called from his hiding spot. "No wonder it's so fracking heavy."

"Just watch and learn my good Doctor. Watch and learn."

The gun looking apparatus had reappeared, but, to Baltar's horror, wasn't pointing at the Cylons. The light from before reappeared and he watched as two shapes took form before him.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Weapons," the man said casually and pressed another button.

The two objects quickly transformed into flying objects and moved towards the approaching Centurions. The two Cylons changed their hands into guns and pointed them at the objects. Before they could fire, however, the two objects stopped suddenly and quickly produced weapons of their own. Baltar watched in awe as the two objects fired several missiles at the Centurions, both of which exploded into a shower of sparks. The man pressed another button and the flying machines returned and were reprocessed into his computers.

"How?" Baltar asked, emerging from his hiding spot.

"I'll explain later. I don't think it's such a good idea if we stay here. Where's Cally?"

"Here," she said, emerging from her own hiding place.

Nodding, the man picked up his side of the craft and Baltar, after a moments hesitation, did the same. Once more, the three humans made their way to the rest of the team on the planet.

Galactica

Major John Cottle, Chief Ship's Physician, wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been a difficult eight hours for the man and he really needed a cigarette. Upon exiting sick bay, however, he was met by Lee Adama.

"I thought you would be in the CIC," Dr. Cottle said.

"They didn't need me. After we jumped in system it was clear the Cylons had bugged out. Colonel Tigh ordered me to take a rest and so I came here."

"Well, you're just in time, Captain," Cottle said, reaching for his pack of cigarettes. Lighting one, the doctor took a long, joyful drag. Exhaling a cloud of smoke, he continued, "The operation was successful. We were able to remove the bullets and close up the wounds."

"So he'll…"

"Yes, he'll live." Seeing Lee brighten, Cottle quickly added, "He's not awake right yet, though. He lost a lot of blood, Captain. It's going to be a while before he wakes up."

"I see," Lee said, upset that he wouldn't be able to talk to his father right away.

"He's going to be fine, Lee," Cottle said, using Lee's name for the first time. "But you won't if you don't get some sleep. We've all been through a lot the past few hours. You should get some rest."

"Understood," Lee sighed.

The ships internal speakers buzzed. Both men looked up.

"Captain Adama, please report to the CIC. Captain Adama, report to the CIC," the speakers intoned.

"Guess I won't get to rest afterall," Lee said and left.

Walking into the CIC, Lee could see Colonel Tigh engrossed in aerial photos of Kobol. Looking up, Tigh motioned for Lee to come over.

"We think we've found them," Tigh said, indicating the photos. "They seem to have crashed near the ruins. And we're seeing indications of a recent battle of some sorts."

"What?" Lee asked, taking a look at the photos himself. "The crews didn't take any weapons along. Are you sure it's not the wreckage of Raptor 1?"

"No, the wreckage is here," Tigh responded, pointing at another part of the photo. "Whatever's going on down there, it doesn't look pretty. Options, Captain?"

"Land Marines, get a feel for the situation, scout out for survivors."

"Just what I had in mind," Tigh told him. "I want you to go along and provide air cover."

"Yes, Sir, that's a good idea," Lee said. Quietly to Tigh he said, "And, Colonel, I just came back from sick bay. My father came through the surgery. He's going to live."

"I knew he would," Tigh said. "He's a fighter. Always has been."

Lee nodded.

"I'll get ready to head down to Kobol," he said and left.

"Dee, have the Marines report to the launch bay. We're going in to get our men," Tigh ordered.

"Aye, Sir," Dee said and relayed the orders.

All around, the mood of the CIC rose. It was the first good thing all day.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. Glad everyone is enjoying this.

Chapter 3

Colonial One

Elosha listened attentively to what Roslin described to her. As she continued, Elosha took on an air of deep thought.

"You speak of the prophecy of the outsider," she said once Roslin had finished. "It tells of a man who will have risked his very life to cross the galaxy, only to be found by humanity. He will come with wondrous things, but he will also be suspect as he will not share humanity's culture."

"Is this man from Earth?" Roslin asked.

"Most likely he is. He may already be on Kobol. We will have to wait and see what happens."

"The Galactica jumped to Kobol a few hours ago," Billy told them. "Obviously we haven't heard anything since then."

"Then perhaps we should initiate a jump of our own," Roslin suggested.

But Billy shook his head.

"The pilots have the coordinates, but they're under orders not to execute them until they receive word from Galactica, or if there's an attack."

"Then all we can do is pray," Roslin sighed.

As if someone were listening, the pilots came on the speakers at that moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've just received word from Galactica that conditions around Kobol are safe and will be jumping to meet them momentarily."

"Someone's listening," Elosha pointed out.

"So it would seem," Roslin smiled.

Amongst the fleet, ships began to wink out of normal space as they quickly covered the distance from their position to Kobol.

Caprica

Kara crouched behind a pile of rubble and watched as another group of Centurions attempted to enter the Delphi Museum of History. Again, she aimed and fired her gun, taking each out in turn. She'd seen the blonde, hiding behind her own pile of rubble.

_So she's not dead, yet,_ she'd thought.

Helo had filled in the rest. Each model had an undetermined number of clones. When one died, their conscious was transferred to the next one to become active. Apparently when Kara had killed the blonde in the museum, something had happened to cause this one to want bloodthirsty revenge.

Beside her, Helo fired another shot and took out an approaching Centurion. He'd had more experience against these new models, on more levels than Kara would have liked. She shot the Cylon Sharon a hard glance and turned her attention back to the battle at hand.

It seemed that no matter how many Centurions they shot, there were always more to take their place. This had been the case for several hours now and Kara decided a new plan was in order.

"You," she said to Sharon, "why don't you go out there and tell your friends to lay off."

"They're not my friends, not anymore they're not," she told her. "If I go out there, they'll kill me."

"Which'll give us enough time to get out of here," Kara said, indicating just her and Helo.

"No, Kara, I won't let you sacrifice Sharon like that. There has to be another way."

"And you're just a fracking toaster lover!" Kara yelled at him.

She nearly turned her gun on him, so consumed with rage she was. At the last moment she checked herself.

"No, it's what they want. They want us to kill each other."

She scanned the battlefield before her. Something about the layout struck her as very familiar.

"The tylium mine," she whispered.

"What?" Helo asked.

"I have an idea," she said and disappeared into the shadows.

"Kara? Kara? Frack!" he said, turning his attention back to the Centurions.

He shot several more Centurions down, but still they came for him. A movement near the blonde caught his eye.

"Miss me?" Kara said, appearing behind Six as if out of thin air.

"You…" she tried but was cut off as Kara launched herself at her.

Kara managed to land a few punches before Six was able to recover. Once she did, her counterattack was brutal. A few well placed punches to Kara's head, face and chest launched the human towards the pile of rubble she had been using for cover. Up ahead, all of the Centurions turned their heads, ready to assist their leader.

"No, leave her to me," Six commanded, making her way over to the fallen Kara.

"By your command," they chorused in unison.

Several more fell as the humans in the museum ahead kept firing at them. A few shots came in Six's direction, but missed.

Six moved closer to Kara, revenge blazing in her eyes. The human had been so foolish to sleep with the man she loved. She knew she was jealous, but she was not angry at Gaius Baltar. He was only human, after all. She had not cared that he'd been with other women. This one, however, had pushed her jealousy over the edge. "Killing" her had not helped matters.

But it appeared the human wasn't unconscious, as Six had thought. Kara suddenly came to life and grabbed a piece of concrete and launched it at Six, narrowly missing. It was enough, however, to distract the Cylon. Kara got to her feet and launched herself at Six once more, knocking the machine off of her feet.

Pinning her, Kara picked up another nearby piece of concrete.

"Take this, you Cylon bitch!" Kara yelled and raised the concrete over her head.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me, Starbuck. I will never forget you. I will find you and I will kill you," Six said as Kara brought the concrete violently down on her head.

"Kara, stop!" Helo yelled, having emerged from his hiding spot. "She's dead."

Kara dropped the stone and stood. She kicked Six in the side for good measure. The machine did not get up.

"See you later," she said spitting on the immobile form.

Helo and Sharon stared at each other.

"Now we get off this fracked up planet," Kara said and walked away.

Galactica

Captain Lee Adama sat in the cockpit of his Mark VII Viper. Around him, ground crew readied his ship for launch as well as several Raptors filling up with Marines. A movement out of his eye drew him out of his quiet reflection.

"Almost ready?" Colonel Tigh asked him.

"Just about," he responded. "As soon as the Marines are ready, we'll launch and recover our men."

"Good. As soon as we have this mess behind us we can jump out of here and move on."

"Maybe we'll find Earth now," Lee told him.

"Now I don't need you worrying about the hallucinations of a madwoman right now. I need you focused, Lee."

"Of course," Lee said resignedly.

"I know you'll do you're job, Lee. If not you'd be in the brig right beside Valerii, gods have mercy on her soul."

"I'm not doing this just for you, Sir," Lee told him. "I'm doing it for my father and because it's what's right."

Tigh nodded, glad to hear that Lee was thinking of the mission.

"Good hunting," he said and left.

Ground technicians placed Lee's helmet on his head and ensured that the seal was intact. Satisfied, they tapped on the glass and gave the thumbs up. Closing the canopy, Lee waited as they moved his Viper into the launch tube. When he was given the go, Lee tensed as the pressures of the magnetic catapult launched him down the tube and into the silence of space.

Once there, Lee checked to ensure the Raptors had gotten off fine.

"Let's go in," he ordered.

One Viper and three Raptors angled towards the blue planet of Kobol, and thus closer to fulfilling humanity's destiny.

Kobol

Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol could not believe his eyes. Approaching him where two people he knew, but also a man he had never seen before in his life. And what they carried was equally unbelievable.

"Cally, Doctor Baltar?" he asked, unsure of himself.

"It's us," Cally told him.

"And you are?" he asked, casting an eye towards the man with them.

"I'm…" he began to reply.

"Chief, he's from Earth," Cally interrupted, excitement in her voice.

"What? How?"

"I'm not sure myself," the man told him. "We didn't even expect to meet any humans when we set out."

"We?" Tyrol asked, looking around for others.

"They're probably dead," the man told him. "The hard drives containing them were corrupted.

"What?" Tyrol asked, completely confused.

"It's a rather long story," Baltar said, trying to move things away from the strange man. "But it is clear he's not from here."

Tyrol looked from the Doctor to Cally and then to the strange object Baltar and the man carried.

"What's that?" he asked.

"My ship," the man told him.

"Not possible," he whispered.

A noise in the sky made everyone look up. The unmistakable form of a Mark VII Viper flew low over the trees and over their position. Cally waved, recognizing the ship of Captain Adama, while the man stared in awe.

"What in the name of God is that?" he asked, drawing a stare from Baltar.

"Mark VII Viper," Tyrol told him, knowing the ship well. "Best fighter craft in the entire Colonial Fleet."

"Makes the F-18 look like a recreational plane," the man observed.

"Well I don't know what that is," Tyrol observed, "But seeing that Viper is the best thing I've seen all day. We're going home."

The man looked again and saw more ships. These struck him as familiar, even though they weren't.

"More Vipers?" he asked.

"Raptors," Cally told him.

The three ships circled their position, before leveling off for a landing several feet away. Their doors opened and disgorged their complement of Marines. The troops fanned out, while a few made their way to the survivors of Raptor 1. Seeing the man, though, caused a few to raise guns.

"It's alright. He's human," Cally told them.

"We can't be sure," the sergeant in charge said.

"I can vouch for him," Baltar said, though he did cast another stare at the man.

"We saw indications of a battle down here. Everyone ok?"

"We're ok," Tyrol responded, wondering what the Marine was talking about.

"Where are the rest of you?" the Marine asked.

"We're scattered. The Cylons caught us by surprise and we fanned out. I had to carry Socinus," Tyrol said, indicating the still unconscious deckhand.

"Sir, we've found some of the others," another Marine reported over the radio. "Or at least what's left of them. They're all dead, sir."

Cally and Tyrol looked down at the ground, quietly remembering their fallen friends. Baltar only looked away, knowing it could have been him had Six not taken him to the ruined opera house.

"I'm sorry," the man said after a moment's silence.

"They did their duty," was all Tyrol could say.

"Let's get you all home," the Marine sergeant said.

The four survivors nodded and as Tyrol carried the still unconscious Socinus, Baltar and the man each picked up his craft and made their way to the nearest Raptor. A few Marines cast a suspicious glance at the man, but none moved to prevent him from bringing his craft along, thinking it to be something they'd found on the planet.

As the three Raptors took off, no one saw attached to the bottom a small device.

Caprica

Helo stared at Kara's captured Raider, wondering what to make of it. He shook his head at Kara's story as to how she'd captured it.

"So this is our way out of here?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Unless you have a better idea, then yeah, it's our way out of here," Kara told him.

"Do you think there's enough room?" Sharon asked.

"You should know," Kara glared at her.

"Kara," Helo warned.

"She's right, Helo. I should know, but I don't. I was never briefed on the abilities of the military, just the nature of humanity."

"Or so you say," Kara said.

Helo sighed. This had to stop.

"Ok, look Kara. She's a Cylon, ok. We know that. Can we settle this when we get back to the Galactica?"

"I can," Sharon said. "Can you, Starbuck?"

"Yeah, Boomer," Kara said, using Sharon's callsign with scorn.

"Enough!" Helo yelled. "I just want off this fracked up planet."

"Sure, let's go," Kara said, gripping the Arrow of Apollo and climbing inside the Raider.

Helo helped Sharon into the interior of the Raider and then climbed in as well. Once he was inside and had dogged the hatch, he realized how tight the fit was for the three of them.

"I sure hope we can take off like this," he observed.

"Only one way to find out," Kara said as she powered up the systems.

Helo let out a deep sigh of relief when the Raider did indeed lift off from the ground. With awe, he watched as Kara worked the controls, or whatever passed for them, and maneuvered the ship up through Caprica's ruined atmosphere.

Once they were in space, there was a tense moment as a squadron of Raiders passed by their ship, but, as Kara had said they would, they passed without incident. Punching in the Galactica's last known coordinates, Kara spun up the FTL drives and prepared to jump.

"Are you sure the Galactica's still where it was when you left?" Sharon asked.

"Why wouldn't it be there?" Kara asked.

"I'm not sure. I believe I received a message from my clone on Galactica saying they had jumped. She didn't say where."

"You said you weren't with the Cylons anymore," Kara growled.

"I can still hear them. I just choose to ignore them," Sharon told her.

"Well, there's only one other place they could have gone," she said, punching in a new set of coordinates. "Stand by for jump."

As they left Caprica behind for the last time, the Raider winked out of normal space.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's the final chapter. You may notice that I changed the title of the story. This is because I noticed another story called "Destiny" and didn't want anyone to get confused. Hopefully the change won't cause any confusion. Chapter 4 is short, but pretty much ties up the stories and sets up new ones for the next story.

Chapter 4

Colonial One

President Roslin sat upright in her bed, drenched in sweat. Another vision had seized her. She struggled to reach the phone next to her bed.

"Yes," the weary voice said on the end of the line.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Elosha, but I've had another vision," Roslin told her.

"Describe it to me," the Priestess said.

"I was in a field and there was a man there. He revealed to me everything about the Cylons. He told me how they became human."

"The prophecy of the outsider. He will reveal to us the answers about our enemies. He will show us how to defeat them."

"How? How will he show me?" Roslin asked.

"You must be patient, Madame President," Elosha told her. "Everything will reveal itself in due time. Prophecies have a tendency to come to pass at the least likely time."

"I see," Roslin said, resignedly.

"Try to rest well, Madame President," Elosha said, breaking the connection.

Roslin sighed and stared out the window at the planet Kobol below. Reaching over the bottle of chamala, she took three and went back to sleep.

Galactica

Colonel Tigh waited on the hangar deck as the three Raptors were pulled in from the landing bay. He had heard of a man found down on Kobol and was interested in meeting him.

The Raptor that held the survivors of the Kobol mission was pulled in and the hatch opened. The Marines disembarked and made their way to debriefing followed by the Raptor's pilot and navigator. Following them was Chief Tyrol, who saluted Tigh and made his way back to his post. Cally followed him, smiling and clearly happy to be back on the Galactica. Following her was Doctor Baltar, Vice President of the Colonies and finally, the strange man he'd heard about.

"Colonel Saul Tigh, Battlestar Galactica," he said, extending his hand.

"Mark Kelan of the planet Earth," the man said, finally revealing his name. Taking the offered hand, he went on, "Permission to come aboard."

"Granted," Tigh said, astonished that this man from Earth would use protocol.

"My ship is on board." Kelan said, motioning inside the Raptor. "I'll need some help getting it out."

Now it was Tigh's turn to be confused.

"Ship? In there?"

"I know, it sounds ridiculous but it's a long story. My computers are installed and I need to begin analysis on them immediately."

"I see," Tigh said. "You do realize we'll have to check them for explosives."

"There are no explosives, Colonel," Baltar said, joining the conversation. "I give you my word as Vice President of the Colonies."

"I see," Tigh said again. Turning to Baltar, "Speaking of which, congratulations, but you're now Acting President. Roslin's been placed under house arrest."

"What?" Baltar asked, surprise in his voice.

"Mr. Kelan, we'll give you a lab so you can start analysis on your computers," Tigh said, getting back to the business at hand.

"Understood," Kelan said, looking at Baltar.

The two men watched as Tigh left. Two deckhands had already retrieved Kelan's craft from the Raptor and were waiting patiently to take it away.

"I'm not sure if I want to know what all that's about," Kelan told Baltar. "Sounds like you have some of the problems we have on Earth."

"So it would seem," Baltar said and left as well.

Kelan shook his head and motioned for the two deckhands to bring the ship along. Another deckhand led them to where he could work on the computers inside the ship. As he walked out of the hangar bay he glanced over at Cally, who met his glance and smiled.

In the CIC, Tigh was going over the next candidates for jump when the alarms began to sound. Lt. Gaeta stopped in mid sentence and ran over to the ships Dradis console.

"Dradis contact. One Cylon Raider, approaching the Galactica fast, sir."

"They must have found out we destroyed their Basestar. Prepare the fleet for jump."

"Wait, we're getting a recognition signal, sir," Dualla chimed in. "Sir, this can't be possible, but it appears to be Lt. Thrace's Raider."

"What?" Tigh said, looking at Dualla. "You're positive of that?"

"Wait one, sir. I'm picking up something on the wireless."

"Put it on the speakers," Tigh ordered.

"Galactica, this is Starbuck, requesting permission to land. Repeat, Galactica, this is Starbuck requesting permission to land."

"I can't believe it," Tigh said. "I just can't believe it. Give her permission to land. Then order a security detail to the hangar bay. I want her arrested as soon as she sets foot on this ship."

"Aye, Sir," Dualla said as she relayed the orders.

"I'll be in the hangar bay," Tigh said and left.

The hangar deck was a buzz of activity as the Raider was hauled in on the lift. Having no landing gear, it was the only way to safely land the ship once it powered down. Tigh had already arrived to watch, a full security detail behind him. He almost grinned, but checked himself. This was not the time to show his dislike of Lt. Kara Thrace.

The hatch opened and everyone was suddenly in shock as Lt. Karl Agathon was the first to disembark from the Cylon craft. A man everyone had though long dead now proved to be alive and well. Or so it seemed. When the next person disembarked, the security team immediately raised their weapons and everyone was shocked as Sharon Valerii got out.

"Arrest her," Tigh demanded. "She's a Cylon."

"No wait, Sir, you can't. She's pregnant," Helo pleaded.

"Another one of these things shot the Commander yesterday. I don't care if she's carrying twins, she's going to the brig to join her fellow Cylon."

"What? What happened to the Commander?" Kara asked, poking her head out from inside the Raider.

"He was shot because you went off on your little mission, Thrace," Tigh told her, omitting her rank. "If it weren't for you he'd be alright. And, for disobeying orders you're going to the brig as well. Arrest her."

"What, no!" Kara protested as the security team took her into custody.

Lee Adama chose this time to enter the hangar deck. He watched as his friend was handcuffed and led out of the bay.

"Lee, do something," Kara pleaded.

"Colonel, maybe you're overreacting," Lee observed.

"Would you like to join her, Captain?" Tigh asked. "I told you she went way over the line and she's going to pay. So long as I'm in charge there's going to be proper discipline on this ship. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," Lee said, saluting.

All Helo could do was stand and watch as the woman he loved was taken away. Tyrol walked up to the Raptor pilot and looked at him.

"What?" Tyrol asked, confused.

"She's a Cylon, Chief," Helo told him and left.

Basestar, Orbit of Cylon-Occupied Picon

Cylon Humanoid Model Number Seven, known to the humans as Doral, looked down on the ruined planet of Picon, a dark look on his face. Interaction with the surviving humans had come to a standstill in the past two days, with the complete deactivation of model number Six and the destruction of over one thousand model number Twelves. Two were known to have been captured by he humans.

"The plan is unraveling," he observed to model number Five, known to the humans as Leoben. "We must get it back on track or else God will be upset."

"We're tracking them. We're also organizing an assault on their battlestar. They will not get away this time."

"We keep thinking that. Yet they always get away. If we don't destroy them soon, then our plans for the Galaxy will go unfulfilled," Doral told him.

"We won't fail this time. There's no way they can stand up to the numbers we're going to throw at them."

A Centurion chose this time to walk in to report to its superiors.

"By your command," it intoned.

"Report, Centurion," Doral commanded.

"Cylon Humanoid Model Number Six has been reactivated," it replied in its monotonous voice.

"It's about time. Bring her in."

"By your command," it intoned and left.

When the door reopened, it was Six that entered. Her appearance remained the same, but something had changed about her. Something deadly.

"Are you sure you're up for this mission?" Doral asked her.

"Of course," she answered.

"You can't let your feelings for the human to get in the way, you know. Nor your thirst for revenge."

"I serve God and His will," Six told him.

"See to it that you remember that," he told her. "Now go."

"By your command," she said and left.

Doral turned his back and once more stared out at the ruined planet of Picon. His mood did not change.

A/N: And that's that, for now. There's more to come, eventually.


End file.
